


naming home

by orphan_account



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - College/University, Asian American, Character of Color, Gen, Names, Vietnamese American
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-13 01:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asian American College AU. Crow is adopted from Vietnam and given a name he doesn't like, so he chooses his own name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	naming home

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of an AU where the 5D's characters are Asian American and go to university. Crow is Vietnamese American; he was adopted when he was a baby by a (white) couple, so that's why his last name is Hogan. The reason behind "Crow" as a given name, of course, follows.

Crow’s used to the routine by now: having to introduce himself in every class and explain why he doesn’t use his given name, smiling and making jokes when people ask him why he doesn’t like it. As far as names go, “Gerald” isn’t so bad, and he could probably shorten it to Jerry so he doesn’t sound as pretentious, but it’s not the name that he wants. Nobody gets to choose what their parents name them, of course. It’s just that Crow knows that of all names, “Gerald” isn’t the one his real parents would have chosen for him, and he wishes he had just that little bit of them to call his own.

“Why Crow?” Jack asks him once. Jack’s never really understood the reason why Crow hates his given name, but at least he’s moved on from the days when he would obstinately call Crow “Gerald” in spite of how many times Crow told him to quit it.

Crow focuses on chopping the vegetables for dinner to buy himself some time. He’s not embarrassed of the reason he chose his name, but it’s still kind of cheesy and private. Finally, he says, “When I was little my parents weren’t around a lot, so they hired a nanny to take care of me. She was Vietnamese, so she’d speak Vietnamese with me and call me ‘little bird.’ I liked that, so I just picked a bird name when I was trying to think of a new one.”

“And of all the birds you could have chosen, you chose Crow?” Jack asks, snorting.

“Oh, and what would you have chosen, ‘Swan?’” Crow waves the knife threateningly at Jack. “Don’t diss my name, white boy, or you’re going to go hungry tonight.”

“You can’t feed Yusei and Kiryu but not me!”

“Watch me.”

There’s a story he remembers Phuong telling him a lot when he was growing up. In the beginning, there were ten suns, embodied in ten crows. They would take turns rising into the sky, but one day they decided to all rise at the same time, and their combined heat ruined all the crops on earth. The gods sent their greatest archer, who proceeded to shoot down all the crows except one.

He always thought it was a little sad that there was only one crow left, even if it was for the good of the crops. “Think of it this way,” Phuong said. “The other crows didn’t die. They were just scattered around the earth, and you, little bird--” She poked his forehead. “Are one of them.”

These days he likes to think that there are more than just nine crows scattered around. There are a lot more, kids like him who grew up feeling like they don’t have their own flock. Crow would help them all if he could, but that’s impossible, so he does his best with the kids in his youth outreach program. He takes care of his friends, too, because if years’ worth of having each other’s backs and sharing love doesn’t make Jack, Yusei, and Kiryu his family, he doesn’t know what will.

In the end, though, the reason behind his name isn’t full of poetry or portent. A crow’s just a crow, after all, in a world where myths don’t have any place. His name is just a way of looking at the world that makes him feel a little more connected, and helps him remember the lilt of Phuong’s Vietnamese, closer to home than anything else he grew up with.

**Author's Note:**

> The excellent art that inspired this fic can be found [here](http://fudoyusei.tumblr.com/post/29920455715/aus-are-a-really-good-excuse-to-shamelessly). 
> 
> This AU is special to me because I'm Vietnamese American (I'm not, however, adopted). Ironically, though, the myth that Crow takes his inspiration from is not Vietnamese as far as I know: it's Chinese. I couldn't find any Vietnamese legends with crows in them. If anyone knows any, definitely feel free to let me know.


End file.
